Coleshill Town continued their extremely impressive start to the 2013/14 campaign by running rampant over Continental Star with a 4-0 victory. Goals from Leek, Dineen, Archer and Lloyd secured The Colemen their third set of three points of the season. However, this wasn’t without controversy. Leek opened the scoring with a beautiful first time hit volley on 51 minutes, one Robin Van Persie would be proud of. This was followed up with a Dan Dineen free kick four minutes later which took a deflection off one of the Continental defenders who failed to clear their lines as the ball bounced in the net. Then the real controversy arrived on 77 minutes. Continental Star formed an attack on the Coleshill defence and Tony Green was taken down in the penalty area but much to the dismay of Continental Star manager Delton Francis, the referee waved the penalty claims away. With Continental Star’s attention at the other end of the pitch, Coleshill Town took advantage with a quick, swift counter attack only for Continental keeper Gavin Ellis to bring down Coleshill substitute Jordan Archer in the penalty area at the other end. The referee immediately pointed to the spot and dismissed Ellis for being the last man. Davis then had to take to the sticks for the home side as Archer converted the penalty on 79 minutes before Lloyd slotted home the fourth just 6 minutes later to help Coleshill climb to fifth in the league table, just three points from the league leaders, Tividale.

Prior to the game, Coleshill Town Assistant Manager, Gareth Palmer, remained very cautious about the opposition they had in front of them at Dales Lane. Palmer said “Tonight will be I feel the hardest game out of the four that we’ve had. Continental have had a number of key players missing throughout the games and they’ve brought in a couple of two or three to get them through this difficult period as in the start of the season with people on holiday, so I think tonight will be a very difficult game. If the lads aren’t on it and don’t start well, and don’t do the things that we’ve asked them to do, I think tonight could be a long evening. But if we start well and look to do the things that we ask the guys to do then hopefully we can go away with the three points.” Palmer looked to continue the impressive start to the season that Coleshill Town had so far experienced under manager Paul Casey, who wasn’t available for this game, thus why Palmer stepped in at the reigns. However, Palmer was very aware of the threat Continental posed to the Colemen. “If we don’t compete in the middle of the park, I think we’ll struggle. We have got to handle Dan Holgate, centre forward for Continental, and James Reid up there, been playing Southern League football so there’ll be, we got to get hold of them two lads because they’re big, strong units.”

Gareth Palmer wasn’t far wrong either, just three minutes after the game had kicked off, James Reid immediately had a chance on goal to put Continental in front forcing Coleshill captain Hathaway into a brilliant save, pushing the ball over the bar for a Continental corner. Just minutes later, Connor Leek was down the other end of the field with an opportunity for Coleshill, forcing Gavin Ellis to match the shot with an equally impressive save. After the opening ten minutes, both sides appeared even however Leek was shining the most, turning the Continental right back, Benjamin, inside out at every given chance.

The best chance of the first half then arrived as Continental won a free kick on the edge of the away side’s penalty area. Tony Green stepped up and lofted the ball towards the top right corner of the net, beating Hathaway only to be denied by the cross bar. The score remained 0-0. Then on the half hour mark, Continental started to feel the pressure being mounted upon them by The Colemen. Gumery, Lloyd and Edwards all had opportunities to give the away side the lead going into the break however they simply couldn’t convert it into the net. Then Coleshill once again came all guns blazing the Continental goal on 35 minutes as Leek once again dazzled the Continental defence to swoop a ball into Gumery only for Gumery to mistime his shot. Lloyd then swung it back in but Fitzharris shot over the bar. The half time whistle then blew as the sides went in at the interval with the score still at 0-0.

When the second half began, Coleshill Town came out with the same mentality that they possessed in the first half and as the saying goes “try and try again and eventually you will succeed” – this definitely was the case for the away side. After several attempts on goal throughout the game, Coleshill Town finally went 1-0 up through Connor Leek when a ball was played from the right and Leek hit it on the volley guiding it into the top right corner of the net on 51 minutes. A well deserved goal for a very impressive individual. This appeared to have shattered the confidence of the home side when they failed to clear a lofted free kick from Dan Dineen on 55 minutes when the ball took a cruel deflection off one of the Continental defenders as the score doubled to 2-0.

Continental then decided to switch up their tactics and decided to go more attacking by bringing on Robinson and Cobourne and then Salmon on a couple of minutes later. Coleshill also made changes as they brought on a returning Danny Tymon. Then just a couple of minutes later, Luke Edwards powers a header towards the Continental net only to have it cleared off the line as Continental battled to stay in the game. Coleshill then made their second substitute of the game as Jordan Archer came on the field.

Archer then played a huge role as controversy rocked Dales Lane on the 77th minute. Continental Star midfielder Tony Green was taken down in the penalty area and was furious when his penalty claims were waved away by the official. With home players tempers flaring, Coleshill Town took advantage and played a quick, smart counter attack up the other end. Jordan Archer was through on goal only to be fouled in the penalty area by Continental goalkeeper Gavin Ellis who saw straight red for his last man challenge. Delton Francis couldn’t believe his eyes as he looked on from the side lines as he watched his side go down to ten men.

Davis replaced Ellis in goal for the home side as Archer placed the ball down for a penalty on the 79th minute. Archer converted from the spot to make the score 3-0 and put the game out of reach of a Continental comeback. The extra man advantage then became very noticeable as Coleshill fired various shots at Davis to try and increase the score. Eventually, Chris Lloyd slotted home the fourth goal on the 85th minute to give the Colemen a four goal advantage and the three points.

This victory means Paul Casey’s men rise to fifth in the league table with nine points. They are only three a drift of league leaders Tividale and are currently exceeding expectations, impressing in various mannerisms. This weekend, Casey’s men travel to Stourport for an F.A. Cup clash with Stourport Swifts. Palmer remained optimistic about Coleshill’s chances against Stourport on Saturday. “We want to go there to win the game. It’s always great to have a run in a Vase or an F.A. Cup.” He then mentioned the threat Stourport Swifts pose. “Stourport haven’t particularly started very well however they have some very, very good players that are playing there and it will be a tough game.”